


Overdue

by 15dogs



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Head Boy Harry Potter, Jealous Draco Malfoy, Parallels, There Is No Second Wizarding War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:41:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27909142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/15dogs/pseuds/15dogs
Summary: Everyone knows that Harry Potter fancies you and you don’t feel the same. It only takes one bet, one date, to change things. your childhood best friend, Draco, feels otherwise. (slight au– war isn’t happening during 7th year)
Relationships: Harry Potter/Reader, Harry Potter/You
Kudos: 53





	Overdue

**Author's Note:**

> cross-posted from tumblr (@15-dogs)

That boy was going to make you scream. Harry Potter sat on his broom, hovering above your spot in the stand, the Snitch dangling inches in front of him.

“Are you mad, Potter?!” you shouted. 

All eyes in the stadium were on you two. There wasn’t a single person in Hogwarts who didn’t know about Harry and yours...relationship, if you’d even call it that. Harry had fallen for you the second he saw you. Love at first sight, he’d always say. You thought otherwise and so did your best friend Draco.

Draco and you were childhood best friends. Shockingly, the Malfoys were somewhat okay with you, a muggleborn, being friends with Draco. They were okay with it for a while, at least. Over the past few years the Malfoys stopped inviting you over. Draco assured you it was nothing personal but, with the social climate, you knew that it was. Draco was just trying not to hurt your feelings.

“Mad for you, love!” Harry teased. You were about to yank your hair out, that’s how irritated he made you.

Hermione stifled a laugh beside you and you threw her a glare. A smirk tugged at her lips as she shrugged, avoiding your stare.

“What do you want, Potter?” you groaned. “We have to win this game, you know that!”

“That I do, love. Did you do something different with your hair? It looks brilliant.”

You chanced a glance over his shoulder, spotting the Ravenclaw Seeker gaining on Harry; he must’ve noticed that Harry got distracted. “ _ Potter _ ,” you warned, “please, I’ll do anything! Catch the damn Snitch!”

“Anything?” He raised his brows at you, a particularly handsome grin adorning his face. You shook off the feeling that he gave you, assuring yourself that he was a git who had a schoolboy crush and nothing more.

“Yes, anything! Merlin, come on, Potter!”

The Ravenclaw Seeker was nearly by Harry’s side. Harry noticed you staring and looked behind him, spotting the boy. Harry turned back around and offered the one thing that you definitely, absolutely, should never have agreed to, “Go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?”

“ _ Yes! _ Now  _ catch it! _ ”

Just as the Ravenclaw Seeker rounded on him, Harry reached out and grabbed the Snitch effortlessly. The crowd roared around you loud enough for them not to hear what Harry said, only you.

“It’s a date!” Harry threw a wink at you before descending.

Your face paled― you couldn’t believe it. You agreed to go on a date with  _ the _ Harry Potter. The boy who had been madly in love with you since he saw you.

You should be mad, or at least a little upset, but you weren’t. That’s bad, right?

―

You stood with Draco in the Great Hall, awaiting Harry’s presence. Draco refused to leave your side until he showed up so that he could make sure that “Potter has good intentions”. You appreciated his concern but you weren’t children anymore. Even as children, Draco never needed to protect you. In fact, you did the protecting more often. He’d never admit it, though.

Harry trotted into the Great Hall, Hermione and Ron trailing behind him. When he approached you, he had a sheepish grin on his face.

“Potter,” Draco spat.

“Malfoy, if you’ll excuse us, I need to, er, speak with (Y/N).”

You frowned. What was there to talk about?

Draco threw a hesitant look at you, receiving a small nod. He took hesitant steps away to join his other friends, stealing small glances at you.

“What’s wrong, Potter? You look like you have a foot in the grave,” you commented.

He fidgeted in his spot; Harry Potter was nervous. He fisted his hands into his pants pockets, avoiding your gaze. “I may have gotten into a bit of trouble― not a lot, just something small― so my Hogsmeade privileges have been...revoked for the time being.”

You felt a pit form in your stomach. Your eyes widened at the sensation, you weren’t supposed to be disappointed that the date was canceled. You quickly regained composure, donning a tight lipped smile.

“Shame. I suppose the date is-”

“I was hoping we could spend the day here,” he hurriedly added. He searched your eyes for a response. Upon getting nothing, he continued, “That is, if that’s something you’d like.”

You cleared your throat. “Is Harry Potter seriously backing out of a deal?”

Your teasing seemed to ease his anxieties as his shoulders relaxed, releasing all former tension. “I am civil, love. I’m not going to force you into this.”

Your heart blossomed with warmth. You could feel your cheeks heat up but hoped it wasn’t noticeable. You fought a smile as you nodded your head. “Yeah, let’s spend the day here.”

Harry, clearly surprised that his offer worked, blinked in shock. You chuckled, rolling your eyes as you tugged him along.

The two of you ended up spending most of your time in the Gryffindor common room, excluding the occasional trips down to the kitchens. You hated to admit it but Harry was actually kind of fun to be around. You know, when he wasn’t so inflated with his own ego.

You laid against the armrest of the couch, Harry opposite you, as he threw pieces of popcorn at you, intending on making them into your mouth.

“I thought you were supposed to have expert hand-eye coordination,” you teased as you brushed loads of stray popcorn off your body.

“I’m a Seeker, not a Chaser. And here I was thinking that you were my biggest fan.” Harry held a hand over his heart in mock hurt, evoking a melodic giggle from you. His demeanor faltered at the sound. You furrowed your brow at him to which he donned his smirk again.

“So,” you began, sitting up, “have any plans for next year?”

“I dunno.” Harry shrugged. “I know I want to become an Auror, but that’s about it. Not much of a plan.”

You noticed the way that Harry caved in on himself, almost as if he were embarrassed by his answer. You nudged his thigh with your foot and his eyes snapped up to yours.

“Plans are binding. They’re not always effective, just binding.”

Harry flashed a genuine smile at you that had your traitorous heart fluttering. “Thanks.”

“Sure.”

“And you?”

You chewed your lip in thought. “I’m not entirely sure. I know I want to help people but there are hundreds of ways to do that. Right now, I simply want to focus on the next year.”

“You want to be Head Girl, don’t you?”

You raised a brow at him. “How did you know that?”

“Word travels.” His lips twitched upwards and you playfully kicked him from your spot. “Right, okay, sorry!” he laughed.

“You’re so odd, Potter. Truly.” Your heart began to speed up, hammering in your chest. You looked at the ground before meeting Harry’s piercing green eyes. “Why me?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Why me? You could fancy anyone, why me?”

His brow knit together. Then a dumb smile stretched on his face. “Because I knew that, from the second I saw you, that there was no one else I’d rather spend my life with.”

Your heart leapt into your throat and a fleet of butterflies occupied your stomach. You shifted awkwardly in your seat, attempting to crack a joke to ease the tension.

However, all you managed to mutter was, “That’s obsessive.”

“No, I’d call that dedication.”

―

Over the rest of your 6th year, you and Harry grew close. You thought that he had given up on his crush as you two became friends, and good ones at that. You spent time with his friends quite often and they seemed to become your friends as well. You’d never thought that you’d see the day when you became friends with Harry Potter, nor did you think you’d see the day that you might, barely, have a tiny, indescribable crush on him.

Hermione and Ron would tease you about it endlessly until you noticed. It started with late night studying with Harry in the common room, opting to partner up with him in Defense, and attending Quidditch just to see him play. Every time those two would tease you about fancying him, you would immediately deny it. Admitting that you did almost felt like defeat.

It wasn’t until the beginning of your 7th year that you knew you were over your head.

You ran up to Harry at Kings Cross, holding your Head Girl letter in your hand. When he saw you, his whole face lit up and his arms opened wide. You ran into a hug, jumping up and down with excitement.

“I got it!” you cried. “Head Girl, I got it!”

Harry pulled away, his smile faltering. You cocked your head in confusion. “That’s great,” he said with feigned joy.

“What’s the matter?”

“I, er, got Head Boy. I was going to resign, anyway-”

“No!”

As soon as those words left your mouth, you knew that you were screwed. What would have possessed you to want Harry Potter, the boy who tortured you with his annoying little crush for years, to spend his final year with you? You knew what it was and you were just thankful that Hermione or Ron weren’t around to see that interaction.

“No?”

“Don’t resign, you deserve the position, Harry.”

His cheeks turned pink as his lips curled into a smile, making your heart melt. “Thanks, I’ll do it then.”

“Brilliant.”

“(Y/N)!” a familiar voice called out. You turned your head to spot Draco coming towards you, his lips pressed together in a firm line. “Potter.”

“Malfoy.”

You could almost see the tension between the two boys. You backed away from Harry, nodding at him politely. “I’ll see you on the train, Harry.”

Harry’s eyes darted between you and Draco before he complied, heading into the train. As soon as he stepped away, Draco rounded on you.

“Don’t tell me you fancy him, now.” His voice had tones of anger and disappointment, both of which shocked you.

“Why are you saying that?”

“Because I know you, (Y/N). I’ve told you too many times now that Potter doesn’t care about you. He only cares about himself.”

Draco reached out to grab your arm but you jerked away. “Come off it, Draco. If I didn’t know any better I’d say that my friendship with him makes you jealous.”

Draco sputtered, attempting to form a coherent answer. You instantly felt guilty for what you said, frowning. You reached out to hold Draco’s cold hand and you almost swore that you saw him blush.

“We’re always going to be friends, Draco. No one person can change that but us.”

Draco removed his hand from yours, nodding. “I know.”

And something in his voice told you exactly that.

―

It was about halfway through the year when things started to go wrong. You were taking a stroll along campus when you saw four people in a heated argument. Your brow knit together and you made your way towards the group, speeding up when you recognized all parties involved.

“Hey,” you called out, “hey! What’s going on?”

“Expelliarmus!” Harry shouted, sending Draco’s wand flying.

“Harry, stop it!”

Harry’s eyes snapped up to yours, immediate guilt behind them. Draco scrambled to get his wand, shooting a spell at Harry that you fortunately blocked him from. Harry raised his wand and threw another spell at Draco, knocking him against the tree behind him.

“ _ Draco! _ ”

You ran to his side, attempting to help him up. He pulled his arm away from you multiple times but couldn’t stand up on his own. You tried to help him one more time but he glared at you and spat, “Don’t touch me, mudblood!”

Tears pricked your eyes. Your heart pounded in your ears. No,  _ no. _ This wasn’t real. You clenched your eyes shut, the tears streaming down your cheeks. When you opened them, you were met with Draco’s somewhat apologetic stare, but as you locked eyes with him, he regained his cruel demeanor. You shook your head, standing up and running off, feeling entirely numb.

You were right, what you had said at the start of the year.

―

From that day on, you ignored Harry to the best of your ability. That, however, didn’t stop every single student in Hogwarts to gossip. Rather, it was quite the propellant. Everywhere you walked a trail of whispers would follow.

After a particularly tough day of rumors, you collapsed in the emptied common room, sobbing silently into your sweater. It was late enough that everyone had gone to bed, and if they hadn’t, they’d be out past curfew so at least you had an excuse to dismiss them quickly if need be.

Then, in life’s most inopportune way, things went wrong again.

“(Y/N)?” Hermione asked as she entered. You hurriedly dried your tears, hoping that it wasn’t obvious that you were crying.

“You should be in bed.” You refused to meet Hermione’s eyes, even as she joined you on the couch.

“I just had rounds. What are you doing up?”

“Nothing,” you mumbled dismally.

Hermione fished around in her robes to pull out a clean tissue. “This doesn’t feel like nothing.”

Reluctantly, you took the tissue and finally looked up at Hermione. She stared at you with great concern which only had you crying again. She held you, rubbing her arms soothingly up and down your back.

“Rumors suck,” you cried into Hermione’s shoulder.

She pulled you away for a minute and whispered, “So do men.”

You nodded, a chuckle escaping your lips. You blew your nose with the tissue and relaxed into the couch.

“What really happened?”

Hermione shook her head. “Do you really want to hear it from me?”

“Time avoiding Harry is time well spent, Hermione.”

“Truer words have never been spoken.”

For someone you’ve only been close with for about a year, Hermione sure was good at cheering you up.

“Draco and Harry got into an argument because...Draco said some, er, choice words about you and your blood status. Harry got mad and then you showed up.”

“Oh.” 

Harry was defending you. It wasn’t necessarily unexpected but you never thought that that situation would arise in the first place. The more your mind ran over the scenario, the more you realized why Harry did what he did: he cared about you. Like, really and truly cared about you. It wasn’t just that schoolboy crush that motivated him, he cared about what people said about you because you were friends.

At some point, Hermione escorted you up to your dorm. You didn’t sleep that night, your head hurt far too much because you knew what you had to do, and there was no waiting, no postponing, it had to happen tomorrow.

―

“Potter!” you shouted as you walked down to the Quidditch pitch. You waved to the team as they dispersed from their respective locker rooms. “Harry!”

“In here!”

You walked over to the locker room, your eyes widening at the sight of shirtless Harry. You couldn’t peel your eyes off of his toned body. Your mouth went dry and all intelligible thoughts fled your body.

“Hey, (Y/L/N),” he began. He ducked a little to look into your eyes. “Are you okay?”

You hummed, nodding fervently. Harry let out an awkward laugh as he threw a shirt on.

“Listen, I want to talk to you about-”

“I know what happened,” you cut in. He raised his brow at you. “And I want to thank you. I...I just knew that it was only a matter of time before something happened between Draco and I. Things have been downhill with him since I met you, and then when he realized I fancy you he got-”

“You fancy me?” Harry ran a hand through his hair in disbelief, his voice pitched up an octave.

You felt your stomach drop out. Your breathing sped up and you focused on anything but Harry in the room. It took a minute of silence for you to finally look at him― you were in shock that he hadn’t said any snarky comments yet.

“Yes.” Your voice was no more than a whisper.

“I don’t...I don’t...really?” he stammered.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

Harry’s jaw dropped. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, deciding on what to say. He took careful steps towards you, waiting for you to bolt. But you didn’t, you were right where you wanted to be.

“Can I, um, kiss you?”

You grabbed his face, smashing your lips against his in a long overdue kiss. That time, you didn’t ignore how good it felt. Kissing Harry made you feel energized in a way you couldn’t explain, it dredged up feelings that you didn’t know you could feel.

You pulled away from him a moment later, placing little pecks against his slightly chapped lips. You cracked a smile at Harry’s blatant shock.

“Really?” you teased. “No joke, no terrible pick up line? Are you okay?”

“In all honesty, love, I didn’t think that this would ever actually happen.”

“Someone had to humble you.”

“And you did an excellent job of that.”

As you stared into Harry’s eyes, you felt a comfort that you didn’t know you could feel; it was like placing the last piece in a puzzle, everything was fitting together. At an earlier point in your life, you would’ve been absolutely distraught that you fit together with Harry. But now? Now, you were happier than you could ever possibly imagine and you intended to keep it that way.

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on tumblr (@15-dogs) and wattpad (@15dogs)!!


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